Pioneers of Modern Spirituality

The neglected Anglican innovators of a spiritual but not religious age

A powerful, original and attractive book, highlighting the ways in which a liturgically rich and intellectually resourceful Christianity can provide the energy for radical witness and solidarity with the most marginal. Jane Shaw reminds us that Anglicans once knew a bit about this, and might do well to rediscover it at a time when such connections need making afresh in our confused culture.

Rowan Williams

The challenges these four faced, of disbelief, dislike of the church and decline in attendance, seemed as formidable to them as to us, but in their different ways they opened up ways of renewal based on prayer and beauty. It is very good to have these riches from the Anglican inheritance, so relevant to our own time, before us again.

Richard Harries, FRSL, former Bishop of Oxford

What paths are open to those spiritually discerning people who find the institutional Church disappointing? Its a question thats been around for a long while and Jane Shaw helps us understand how some twentieth-century Anglican pioneers addressed it very seriously. An accessible blend of research and insight, this is a welcome and attractive introduction to some who erred on the side of provocation. Their wisdom is needed as much as ever.

Mark Oakley, Canon Chancellor, St. Paul's Cathedral

Many people today think of themselves as spiritual but not religious. What riches and resources does the Anglican tradition have to offer those who are spiritually curious but on the margins of, or outside, the church, as well as to those inside the church?

Pioneers of Modern Spirituality introduces four Anglicans  Evelyn Underhill, Reginald Somerset Ward, Percy Dearmer, and Rose Macaulay  each of whom was a significant influence in a revived interest in spirituality at a time when people were questioning institutional religion.

Jane Shaw is Professor of Religious Studies and Dean for Religious Life at Stanford University, USA, and was previously Fellow and Dean of Divinity of New College, Oxford, and Dean of Grace Cathedral, San Francisco. Pioneers of Modern Spirituality is based on her 2017 Sarum Lectures, Origins of Spirituality.